ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida residents slogged through flooded streets, gathered up scattered debris and assessed damage to their homes on Friday after Hurricane Milton smashed through coastal communities and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes.
At least nine people were dead, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn’t worse. The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized. Gov. Ron DeSantis warned people to not let down their guard, however, citing ongoing threats to safety including downed power lines and flooded areas.
“We’re now in the period where you have fatalities that are preventable,” DeSantis said Friday. “You have to make the proper decisions and know that there are hazards out there."
Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, the system flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays ' baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.
As homeowners assessed damage to their property, about 2.4 million customers in Florida remained without power Friday morning, according to poweroutage.us. The 260,000 people in St. Petersburg were told to boil water before drinking, cooking or brushing their teeth, until at least Monday.
But the state’s vital tourism industry started to return to normal, with several theme parks preparing to reopen. The state's busiest airport was also scheduled to fully reopen Friday.
Flooding from Milton's heavy rains was still causing problems.
Crews from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office were assisting with rescues of people, including a 92-year-old woman, who were stranded in rising waters along the Alafia River on Friday morning. The river is 25 miles (40 kilometers) long and runs from eastern Hillsborough County, east of Tampa, into Tampa Bay.
Animals were being saved, too. Cindy Evers helped rescue a large pig stuck in high water Friday at a strip mall in Lithia east of Tampa. She had already rescued a donkey and several goats after the storm.
“I’m high and dry where I’m at and I have a barn and 9 acres,” said Evers, adding she will soon start to work to find the animals’ owners.
In Riverview, named because of its proximity to the Alafia River, a small bridge over a creek washed out, blocking Canadian Del Ockey from the home where he spends the six coldest months of the year.
Two planks over the now trickling creek are the only way he can get to his house. He rented a car and parked it on the other side, making a run Friday morning to get gas and fix a chain saw that broke as he was cutting down fallen trees around his home.
Ockey said he's used to hurricanes, having built his house 26 years ago, but Milton was different.
“We’ve had seven or eight of them come before, but nothing like this one. This was big-time,” Ockey said.
Before noon on Friday, cars with residents returning to evacuated homes in southwest Florida crept along in a slow-moving line of traffic across Interstate 75, also known as Alligator Alley. Many had evacuated to the state’s Atlantic Coast near Fort Lauderdale and Miami. On Thursday evening, bucket trucks, fuel tankers, portable bathroom trailers and a convoy of emergency vehicles streamed toward the hardest-hit areas.
Finding gas was still a challenge. Fuel stations were still closed as far away as Ocala, more than a two and a half hour drive north of where the storm made landfall as a Category 3 near Siesta Key in Sarasota County on Wednesday night.
Natasha Ducre and her husband, Terry, were just feeling lucky to be alive. Milton peeled the tin roof off of their cinderblock home in their neighborhood a few blocks north of the Manatee River, about a 45-minute drive south of Tampa. The couple and their family evacuated Wednesday night as the storm barreled toward them — a decision they believe probably saved their lives.
“It ain’t much, but it was ours. What little bit we did have is gone,” Natasha Ducre said. “It’s gone.”
As residents rushed back to their homes to assess the damages, tourists who had come for a vacation found that Florida theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld had reopened Friday.
Orlando International Airport, the state’s busiest, said departures for domestic flights and international flights would resume Friday, after resuming domestic arrivals Thursday evening. The airport had minor damage, including a few leaks and downed trees. Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers also reopened Friday.
MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa and Patrick Space Force Base near Cocoa Beach remain closed, with only authorized personnel allowed on the bases. MacDill, home to U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command, experienced some damage and flooding, Air Force officials said. Patrick was spared any significant damage.
Milton prevented Simon Forster, his wife and their two children from returning to Scotland as planned Wednesday evening, so they enjoyed an extra two days of their two-week vacation on a bustling International Drive in Orlando’s tourism district on Thursday. Hurricanes seem to follow them since 2022's Hurricane Ian kept them from returning to Scotland after another Orlando vacation.
“Two extra days here — there are worse places we could be," he said.
This story has been edited to correct the last name of the couple whose home was severely damaged. It is Ducre, not Shannon.
Payne and Daley reported from Palmetto, Florida. Associated Press journalists Holly Ramer and Kathy McCormack in New Hampshire; Terry Spencer outside of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Stephany Matat in Fort Pierce, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale; Michael Goldberg in Minneapolis; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Lolita Baldor in Washington; Ken Miller in Edmond, Oklahoma; and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
A bridge going over a small creek is seen damaged by Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. The road is the only access point into a community. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A lifeguard hut is on its side after Hurricane Milton at Clearwater Beach, Fla., on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
Clean up continues at Clearwater Beach, Fla., after Hurricane Milton on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
FILE - Neighborhoods with debris from tornadoes are visible in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Oct. 10, 2024, in Fort Pierce, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Public work employees remove sand that was pushed to the streets by wind and storm surge from Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Renel Prophet carries a chainsaw to get it repaired after it broke while cleaning out down trees in his property, which became unaccessible during Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Public work employees remove sand from the roadways, that was pushed to the streets by Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Del Ockey, a seasonal Florida resident from Canada, walks near the damaged bridge from Hurricane Milton, that leads onto his property, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Del Ockey, a seasonal Florida resident from Canada, walks near the damaged bridge to his property from Hurricane Milton, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Riverview, Fla. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A man who identified himself as Jesse walks out through floodwaters of the Anclote River after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in New Port Richey, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
A tree toppled by Hurricane Milton lies atop a stately home in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A truck drives down a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A broken sign and other debris lie alongside Gilligan's Island Bar & Grill after the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
People from Sarasota, Fla., visit a familiar beach on Siesta Key, Fla., which they say was already decimated by Hurricane Helene, and lost feet more of sand coverage in Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A car backs up after encountering deeper water on a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Natasha Ducre surveys the kitchen of her devastated home, which lost most of its roof during the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Palmetto, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Ducre, her husband, three children, and two grandkids rode out the storm in a government shelter and returned to find their home unlivable and much of their furniture and belongings destroyed by rainwater. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A piece of debris is wrapped high around a tree in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A tree lies atop a stately home in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A pick up drives past a guard gate on a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Flood waters recede after Hurricane Milton, on streets where piles of debris from Hurricane Helene flooding, sit outside many homes, in Siesta Key, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
